Raiders prove too tall for Coyotes

All 6-foot-8 of Ty Egbert leads Lake Roosevelt to the 59-26 state elimination victory over Burbank boys.

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Friday, March 5, 2010

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YAKIMA - How tall is Lake Roosevelt's Ty Egbert?

Egbert proved to be too tall for Columbia-Burbank in consolation action at the SunDome here at the Class 1A boys basketball tournament Thursday.

The 6-foot-8 sophomore scored 16 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, blocked five shots - and altered many - to lead the Raiders to a 59-26 victory over the Coyotes and end Burbank's state tourney run.

"We played a couple of big kids (during the season), but not as good as that kid (Egbert)," Coyote coach D.J. Traver said. "Those long arms up there and the arch on everybody's shot gets a little higher."

That 6-8 presence in the middle helped to continue the Coyote shooting slump that plagued Burbank in both tournament losses. Burbank shot only 17 percent from the floor against the Raiders and managed just eight second-half points.

"Total in two games and we're (around) 20 (percent shooting from the floor - 22 percent against Onalaska and 17 percent against the Raiders)," Traver said. "You can't win games doing that.

"It's two games where we were out-physicalled," he continued. "The biggest difference - they (Loggers and Raiders) were both stronger than we were. We just told the kids, ‘Tomorrow, we've got to get in the weight room, start getting shots up.' We've got to get stronger and get ready for next year."

With Ty Egbert blocking two of Burbank's first four shots, the Raiders jumped to a 5-0 lead right out of the chute.

Tanner Woody got the Coyotes on the board with two free throws at the 5:31 mark to cut the lead to 5-2.

A Woody baseline drive and a Brad Romm trey got the Coyotes within 13-9 with 15 seconds left in the quarter.

Cade Egbert, who finished with a game-high 18 points, buried a buzzer-beater trey to end the first quarter and give Lake Roosevelt a 16-9 advantage.

The Coyotes went to a full-court man defense to open the second quarter and went on a 7-4 run.

Nathan Roberts followed his deuce with a trey, and Neal Schuck picked the Raiders' pocket in back court and converted the steal to get Burbank within 20-16 with 5:20 left in the half. The Coyotes could get no closer.

"We were in 2-3 (zone)," Traver said. "We decided to go full-court 1-1 (man-to-man), and we scrambled around and got some steals. The problem was we weren't getting buckets on the other end."

The Raiders closed the half on a 10-2 run to take a 30-18 advantage to the break.

Two fast-break buckets from Cade Egbert, and a Ty Egbert flush on a put-back, set the second-half tone and put the Raiders up 36-23 with 3:21 left in the third. The Coyotes didn't score the rest of the quarter as Lake Roosevelt took a 42-23 lead to the fourth.

Roberts' second trey of the night, and a Chad Davis two, were the only third-quarter Coyote points.

"They got a lot of transition buckets as we lost guys," Traver said of the second half. "We wanted to focus on rebounding and we did too much, and didn't have a guy back. And with nobody hitting, we just couldn't find anybody to score for us."

Schuck's trey was the Coyotes' fourth-quarter offense as the Raiders lived to play on in today's consolation action.

Roberts' eight points led Burbank.

The Coyotes finish the season with a 15-11 record.

"The overall positive is that we got here (to state)," Traver said. "That was our goal. We didn't end on the day we wanted to as we wanted to end on Saturday. The kids fought hard to get here."

Seniors Schuck, Trevor Lott, Davis and Jett Schrimsher closed out their Coyote careers with the state tourney run.

"It's a group that has put in a lot of time in the gym," Traver said of his senior class. "They've done everything we've asked them to do. A group I've enjoyed being around. They are a fun group. I've never had to worry about them. I'll miss them. They have put in a good four years."